Design and evaluation of a dynamic production concept for a modular vehicle platform

The automotive industry is undergoing significant transformation, driven by the increasing diversity of vehicle and powertrain variants, shorter product life cycles, and growing demand for customized vehicles. These trends necessitate enhanced flexibility in assembly processes to sustain high resource utilization across diverse product requirements. Traditional assembly lines, designed to operate at an average pace, face mounting challenges in handling this complexity. Vehicles with complex features lead to significant cycle time deviations, while simpler models cause idle periods, exposing the limitations of conventional production systems. Modular production approaches have emerged as promising solutions, disrupting rigid production structures and enabling substantial efficiency gains. Among these, parallel box production has gained recognition in industry-oriented research as a flexible assembly method. This approach allows variable sequencing of assembly boxes, enabling vehicles to overtake others and better accommodate varying assembly times. A self-driving vehicle platform forms the foundation for implementing such concepts, providing the adaptability needed to optimize the assembly process. This study examines the potential to reduce cycle time variability in modular vehicle assembly using parallel box production. Discrete event simulation is employed to evaluate the effectiveness of this innovative approach in addressing the complexities of modern automotive production.